Degradation products of the extracellular pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae access the cytosol via its pore-forming toxin.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading pathogen with an extracellular lifestyle; however, it is detected by cytosolic surveillance systems of macrophages. The innate immune response that follows cytosolic sensing of cell wall components results in recruitment of additional macrophages, which subsequently clear colonizing organisms from host airways. In this study, we monitored cytosolic access by following the transit of the abundant bacterial surface component capsular polysaccharide, which is linked to the cell wall. Confocal and electron microscopy visually characterized the location of cell wall components in murine macrophages outside membrane-bound organelles. Quantification of capsular polysaccharide through cellular fractionation demonstrated that cytosolic access of bacterial cell

SUBMITTER: Lemon JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4313911 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature